Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-04
THE PURITANS.
Correspondence Of the Gazette.

Correspondence OF the Gazette.
Thanksgiving day furnishes occasion
for numerous attacks, editorial, upon the
character OF the first settlers of New
England, snd as the newspapers of The
day exert an unquestioned Influence upoI
their patrons, and as it is easier to &C
cept their statements than to refer tC
authorities which they garble or mis-
quote. an important histori-
cal fact is quite generally
misunderstood One would infer from
q reading of some of these brilliant dis
QUESTIONS that the Puritans had o mono
poly OF the superstition and bigotry OF the
sge when little time devoted 10 con-
sultiDg history would have demonstrated
that so far from being the sole possessors
Of these undesirable traits, they were less
violently affected than the rest Of man
kind, and were the fist to awaken
from the nightmare that oppressed the
world. The belief in witcheraft existed
from the beginning OF history to IS late q
day as 1868, when wizard was drowned
in England; and the delusion which New
England removed 10 1892, was recognized
by the laws of Old EogIand as late as
1856, ana Judicial executions for witch
craft were perperrated in Europe not
I longer ago than 1893
The error Of New England is dinned in
the ear Of successive generations, until
the fact is lost sight II that some Of the
greatest minds Of England were under
the influence of this terrible delQsIon,
and that the enormitias done il Massa-
chusetts were very tIif3 compared
with the wholesale burnlngs at the stake
and other barb&rtties sanctioned 0y The
laws of England and the whole continent
OF Europe.
To quote from President Bartlett OF
! Dartmouth:
"The number of witches executed in
England during the first eighty years Of
that century has been estimated at So
600.
"And now in this mass OF folly that fill
ed the whole civilized world, what was
New EnglGnd's share?
Chow many were actuaily putt death?
Nineteen, all told. And then the
delusIon passed away forever,
overwhelmed by the mighty
force of universal sentiment No other
land ever witnessed furer so aorief, q
resction so profound, or a repentance so
Deep"
"In all these things our ancestors were
in advance of their age" "And the at
tention that has been directed to their
remaining errors is absurdly dlspropor-
tionate."
"We do not care 10 apologize for them,
except as sharing our common human
ity." ave simply say, show Us better
men II you Gao. before them, or since, or
now"
That the Puritans are deserving OF pre-
eminent consideration as factors in the
civilization of the world let England ard
America answer.
John Richar1 Green, IN bis history,
"rhe English People," says, "It was the
Puritan VINO had slowly won the mass IF
the English people to any real acceptance
of ProtestaDism."
cat the beginning OF the reign of Eliza
beth's successor, the bulk OF the scountry
gentlemen, the bulk of the wealthier
trades, had become Puritans." A Puritan
wife says of her husband, "his reason
always submitted to the word Of God;
but in sill other things the greatest names
in the world would t lead him without
reason" Again, of the temper OF the
age, i. e, the profound respect for positive
Law: "Itwas in the creation of such q
temper as this that Paritanism gave it's
noblest gift to English politics." OF the
English gentleman moulded in this spirit
it was said: "He never disdained the
mesnest nor iattered the greatest"
"The history of English progress since
the restoration, on its moral and spiritual
sides, has been the history of Puritan
ISM" In refusing to pay the unjust
ship-money tax levied by Charles, John
Haupden, Puritan, set the example fol-
lowed by Puritan Massachusetts, which
resulted in the independence Of these
United States.
England had never reached so exalted
place among the nations of the earth as
when Oliver Cromwell, "the uncroWned
king" dictated her course, and made her
name name to be feared among ell
peoples.
public school system, our academies and
colleges, and public libraries and kindred
institutions, Puritan, bigoted, supersti-
tious Massachusetts gave them birth.
nourished their infancy, strengthened
their youth, and maintains them in their
maturity. Nothing can be farther from the
truth than the statement that the Puritan
characters is not truly honored, and that
it does not command the respect Of all
thoughtful men.
Milton has been called the highest type
of the Puritan, and the man who can read
the account OF the first settlers of Msssa-
chusetts during the first winter at |
Plymouth, when half their number died,
and the Survivors, that the Indians
might not learn their loss, leveled the
graves, and in the spring planted corn
above them; ssy that the man who can
not admire this strong, positive, manly,
God fearing character, is an arrant hypo-
clite when he sounds the praises of Mil |
toms immortal poems, and his admira-
tien of that illustrious soldier, the "Crom- |
well of the Southern Confederacy," the |
grand, heroic, honored Of ell honest
men, "Stonewall" Jackson, is but pre-
fnnaa and & sham SHAWNIrr